State of prejudice: in Gujarat, Muslims are still in exile after last year's communal violence, which killed more than 1,000 people - India

New Internationalist, June, 2003 by Dionne Bunsha

SHE'S been hiding behind closed doors for a year. There's no place she feels safe. The people who attacked her are free. But Sharifa (name changed) is on the run.

Village leaders raped her, killed her three-year-old daughter and thirteen other family members. They remain unpunished. Sharifa testified against them to the police. Now, she is afraid they'll get to her before the trial. 'There's a rumour that they have announced a 500,000-rupee ($10,000) reward to kill me. It's not safe for us to - be in any place for too long,' she says.

Sharifa's village, Randhikpur, was attacked in March 2002 during the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat (see Worldbeaters on the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Damodardas Modi, NI 356). The cycle of violence began in February 2002 when a train carrying Hindu pilgrims to the disputed religious site of Ayodhya - sponsored by a Hindu fundamentalist group - was set on fire by Muslims, killing 59.

The next day Hindu extremists launched a reprisal pogrom against Muslims which lasted several months. Over 1,000 people were murdered and around 150,000 were left homeless. A year later not much has been done to punish the guilty. Of the total 4,252 cases registered, the police have closed half, claiming lack of evidence.

The Government says Gujarat is back to normal: all relief camps closed in June. But many Muslims haven't returned to their villages. The ghettoization of rural Gujarat has begun.

In Vadali, a small town in north Gujarat, refugees from surrounding villages are living in tents. 'What can we go back to? Everything is burned to ashes. The Patels (higher caste) have declared a boycott of Muslims,' says Mohammedbhai Mansoori, from Lakshmipura village. Posters put up in his village proclaimed it 'Muslim-free'. The few brave refugees who return to their homes are harassed and shunned. Several Muslims say their tormentors are after their land, shops and small businesses.

In cities like Abmedabad, the segregation is already complete., Many refer to the lanes dividing a Hindu and Muslim colony as 'borders'. Muslim ghettos are called 'mini-Pakistans'. During last year's violence, the few Muslim tenants who lived in Hindu apartment buildings were asked to leave.

Naroda Patiya, an industrial suburb in Ahmedabad, is infamous as the place where a bloodthirsty mob slit a pregnant woman's belly. More than 83 people were killed here in the most gory of all Gujarat's massacres. Even now at night it's like a ghost town.

'My children are too scared to live here,' says Allauddin Mansoori, a mechanic. Like many others he comes here for work but leaves at night for a 'safer' Muslim neighbourhood. After the violence, some children haven't been able to return to school. Muslim workers haven't been able to find employment due to the boycott and the economic collapse after the mayhem.

Ironically, instead of the culprits, many riot victims were arrested. That includes Sairabanu, a widow and mother of five. She spent a month in hospital after a stray police bullet hit her on her doorstep. 'The police filed rioting cases against anyone admitted to hospital with injuries in police firing,' says her lawyer.

Speaking up against the powerful carries a price. Twelve residents of Naroda Gaam in Ahmedabad testified to the role of powerful local politician DrJaideep Patel in a Gujarat massacre. Six months later, the police jailed these 12 witnesses, accusing them of murder, They still haven't been able to get bail.

Until the big fish are caught, people like Sharifa have to remain in exile. She still hopes for the day her attackers will be put behind bars. Until then, she keeps hiding.